Urban Sketch Landscape view of Halki Harbour
Here’s a collection of sketches I did while exploring the Greek island of Halki, which were done in my new Stillman & Birn Alpha Series 14cm x 9cm sketchbook, which is even smaller than my favoured A6 landscape sketchbook, but I also did one sketch in my A5 sketchbook.
I also sketched people during my time on Halki, but I’ve included them in my Sketching People posts as part of my #Kick365 sketching challenge to draw people in ink and watercolour, and here’s the link to look at these Halki people sketches.
Urban Sketching Halki in my A5 Sketchbook
Halki has an iconic and very recognisable landscape, and I’d done a couple of practice sketches from photographs before I arrived here.
It’s very much a different animal to be sitting on my patio and trying to sketch the scene without getting overwhelmed. I managed to get most of it in perspective, but the sketch looks flatter than I’d like because there’s no strong focal point, only for the white building on the back row to draw your eye. There’s also not enough difference in tonal values and saturation, so it’s lacking a feeling of depth. The trouble is I just started sketching and didn’t really plan it out before I started.
Urban Sketching Halki in my Small Sketchbook
I was wandering around the back lanes of Halki, which is a collection of narrow paths that weave between the buildings that ascend up the hill. I was enamoured with this yellow scooter, especially as it was sitting opposite a red and blue recycle bin. We’d found out that the island did have a recycle process in place for a while, but it didn’t work and it’s been cancelled. So the bins are just for show.
I wanted to sketch more of the scooter, so walked around to the other side to do the opposite profile with the different background. I’ve sketched scooters before – there was a cute one I did on Leros that I was really pleased with, but don’t think I’ve done many since. But I think I need to look out for them – I’d rather sketch scooters than cars.
Later in my wanderings I came across this simple building adorned with bougainvillea. I fully intended to sketch a lot of buildings with flowers during this trip, and had even practiced sketching bougainvillea before I came away, but this is the first and only one I sketched on Halki. There’s something about the combination of shutters and bougainvillea that makes me think of the Greek Islands.
I took so many photos of the harbour and boats, mainly because the colour of the water was electric. But I only did a couple of boat sketches on Halki.
I sat on the upstairs balcony of our apartment to sketch this aerial scene of the fishing boat harbour, and added some depth and context to the scene by adding a monochromatic backdrop of the restaurants lining the harbour.
I really wish I’d done some sketching water practice before I came away so that I could have done justice to my boat pictures. Luckily Boatober is starting soon, and that’s a good excuse to sketch boats and water. Boats, like scooters, are really intriguing to sketch, so many little details and angles to capture.
I sat on our patio and started sketching my view of the marina, and the various boats that were moored nearby, and as luck would have it – there was a different yellow scooter at the entrance to the boat jetty. I used a limited colour palette for this page, and added the canopy and balcony of our local mini market as a background sketch to these vignettes.
On the last day of our holiday on Halki we had to check out of the apartment and hang out at a cafe over on the other side of the harbour by a hotel, to kill the four hours before our ferry arrived. We did a bit of swimming and snorkelling, and had a really nice lunch. And then I decided to sketch a double page view of my harbour view.
I kept the focal point of the buildings etc as monochromatic, and used a duo of colours to sandwich the scene. Blue for the water in front, and a natural sienna for the rocky hill behind. I was really pleased with how this turned out, and was glad I’d taped the edges of the page to create a negative space frame around it.
